Bunkers Cave

Date:

24 August 2010

Party:

 Richard, Margot, Jenny, Mike& Karen

Photos:

Margot & Mike

In Brief:

Elegantly entering the parking lot through the exit, the author was the first to arrive at the designated meeting place for a trip to Bunker’s cave. In one movement Karen and Mike & Jenny appeared, followed after five minutes by our revered leader Richard. We were off! They hardly waited for me (I was parked a bit further back), so I broke some speed limits to keep up, but I managed. And short while later we walked through the fields to the copse that held the cave of our choice.

.

Continued:

In one’s memory stories get more and more spectacular! I remembered the entrance as hardly bigger than a rabbit’s hole, but after many more months of crawling and squeezing I thought it looked big and comfortable. Not everybody shared that opinion, though. We all managed, anyway, to clamber, crawl and squeeze down into the main chamber, where we had a try at some photography, with varying levels of success. 

After a while we pushed on into the passage with the delicate pretties, and in spite of the multitude of pretty pics already festooning the write-up of the previous Bunker’s trip in February we made a few more. The author was specifically untalented in providing her own light for pictures this evening, and took the opportunity of having Richard around, and the lighthouse he wore on his head, to take some larger-scale pictures as well. In the end of the cave we just sat (or lay) down and just chatted away for a while. With Richard’s legs as inspiration, the topic hovered around blood and hospitals, but the tone was cheerful nevertheless. So cheerful Mike deemed it worthy to document this casual conversation, which he considered to be somewhat bizarre, for posterity.  

We then embarked on the long journey back, discussing the pro’s and cons of going caving while wearing nothing but SRT kit. It probably won’t really catch on. Whether it was to hide his disappointment, or for other reasons, Mike vanished into the squeeze out without further delay. Karen, who claimed plunging into that narrow hole went against every natural instinct, decided to try it feet first, and proved it can indeed be done without much difficulty. It was a hit! Jenny did the same. I followed her through the passage, of which I don’t know if it has a name, but it should be named “the passage of interesting sounds” as far as I am concerned. Richard, being the cavers’ shepherd he is, and the holder of the key, closed the ranks.

On our way back to the cars the pull of the depression, of which Richard had explained contained Shaky hole, became too much for Mike. He suggested a bonus extension of our short but pleasant trip. I made my way down into the pit, and to my surprise I was whizzed past by Mike, who took a bolder, as sub-vertical and low-friction, route. This could have turned ugly. He however carried it off like a swashbuckling caving superhero, and politely let me go first into the entrance. Soon I found out his heroism did not reach further than that; I was on my own finding my way in this short and bouldery cave, past a pretty portal, to the water, which indicated the end of the cave for non-divers. A nice treat!

On the way back to the cars we were all struck by the beauty of the full moon, and I wondered if I could take a picture of it. And I could! Richard was glad to find some use for the tripod he had carried uncomfortably all the way through the cave, without any discernible reason. And after we had managed to bully Mike into not spoiling these long exposure time pics with his headlight, and taken a nice one, we retired to the cars, changed, said our goodbyes, and went home.

Write up by Margot 

Added 25-08-10